why my tank water cloudy and greenish

**acidjc** · 15th Dec 2004, 12:33

a new 4ft tank.water run for 1 week+ with soil and base fer.

then 3 days ago. bought a new camister filter with bio volca and biosubstrate from rainbow. after starting the ext pump the clear water become slightly cloudy.

yesterday put in some plants and a piece of wood with moss. water condition still cloudy (seem like worst)

today. water chg 50% in the morning. and now after 2 hr.. water is look cloudy and greenish in color.

dunno why? anyone can advise me..

FYI. after the water chg, I added 10drops of HPC LushGro-Micros and 2 cupfull of potasium and iron.

got some yamato inside (taken from my old 2ft tank).. they are still suriving aft 2days

**David** · 15th Dec 2004, 12:51

Cloudy water is pretty common when a tank is newly setup and the biological bact. has not settled into your new filter.

You may be having greenish water if your lights are strong enough and stop dosing your tank with liquid fert for at least 15 to 21 days depending on what kind of plants you have and the condition of the tank ecology.

**acidjc** · 15th Dec 2004, 13:06

ok..I had already done 50% water chg this morning.. I will let the tank settle for another week b4 I chg 20% water..

and since I also added in the liquid fer.. look like I will have to set my timer to only 6hr per day to reduce aglae grow.

do u suggest I clean the filter media as well at this point of time?

**PeterGwee** · 15th Dec 2004, 13:23

You should always plant very heavily from the start when you start a planted tank to avoid startup issues. Seems like you didn't do that..

Try adding some mulm from the filter of the old 2ft tank to the new filter and start planting heavily. Crank the CO2 up to the 25-35ppm range and keep it there if you are using it. Dose nutrients...N,P,K, GH(Ca/Mg) and traces. You should not have much startup issues then. Well setup planted tanks goes through a silent nitrogen cycle...a poorly setup one will go through it though plus some free stuff like algae.

Regards
Peter Gwee

**bclee** · 15th Dec 2004, 13:36

[quote:d55fda1f

="acidjc"]a new 4ft tank.water run for 1 week+ with soil and base fer.[/quote:d55fda1f

]
Can you provide more details about this tank? Lights, CO2, etc.

[quote:d55fda1f

="acidjc"]
then 3 days ago. bought a new camister filter with bio volca and biosubstrate from rainbow. after starting the ext pump the clear water become slightly cloudy.

yesterday put in some plants and a piece of wood with moss. water condition still cloudy (seem like worst)

today. water chg 50% in the morning. and now after 2 hr.. water is look cloudy and greenish in color.

dunno why? anyone can advise me.[/quote:d55fda1f

]
So you started the tank without filter and plants for 3 days? The greenish water is probably greenwater (a suspended algae) caused by ammonia leaching from the soil.

As Peter have mentioned, always start the tank with lots of plants. It will help deal with the ammonia and prevent algae outbreak.

[quote:d55fda1f

="acidjc"]
FYI. after the water chg, I added 10drops of HPC LushGro-Micros and 2 cupfull of potasium and iron.

got some yamato inside (taken from my old 2ft tank).. they are still suriving aft 2days[/quote:d55fda1f

]

Are you using any CO2 injection?

At this stage, you probably have to stop the fertilisation and try to get rid of the greenwater. (Try searching this forum for "greenwater" and "blackout".)

Your yamato might not survive for long...

They are pretty sensitive to ammonia and nitrites... definitely not good for newly started tank.

BC

**acidjc** · 15th Dec 2004, 13:53

OMG!!!

ok.. during the first few days I used a overhead filter (just wool) and a powerhead to run the water..(no light)

later when I installed my ext filter (with media + wool), then I notice the water start to become cloudy.

My tank confguration now is with PL lights 4x36W (ON for 6 hr per day), CO2 is abt 2-3 bubble per sec.

Peter, I did not know that I have to plant heavily during the startup stage.. thank for your advise.. I will goto Teo tmr again to get more Jap grass and maybe some tall plant for the background

heehee.. ya bclee u r rite.. actually that wat I am doing. I put in some yamato because I wan to test the water condition.. if they all die after a few days..it mean my water is still unstable..so no more fishes yet.